


Flour Power

by EmberAutumns



Category: Undertale (Video Game), underswap
Genre: Autism, Autistic OC, Bakery, Chapter specific trigger warnings, Comedy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, He just wants to be cool, I don't think they're that bad, Meltdown, OC doesn't want anyone to know she's autistic, OC owns a bakery, Surface timeline, Swap Paps isn't as lazy as he appears, They find out anyway though, but better safe then sorry, eventually, slowburn, trigger warning: descriptions on meltdowns, underswap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 20:18:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15979736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberAutumns/pseuds/EmberAutumns
Summary: When monsters first leave Mt. Ebbot, Alanna isn't that concerned. She has her dream bakery to run after all, and she has more then enough social slip ups without being stuck in a crowd of people. When she hires a purple spider monster named Muffet however, she quickly falls in with a crowd of monsters that don't seem to mind her oddities.That doesn't mean she's trusting them with her autism though. Still, maybe slowing down and relaxing with a certain skeleton monster isn't all bad.





	1. Who want's to go to a mountain?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of humanity was excited to finally get to see the monsters that were finally being let down the mountain.  
> Well, almost everyone. One little bakery is much more interested in restocking their cookie supply thank you very much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been rewritten to match my current writing skill! The rest will be update shortly as well, but I think you'll all enjoy this new updated version more!

Monsters are real. Three simple words, that was all it took to send humanity into chaos.

Mount Ebbot had never been particularly special. Sure, every few dozen years someone would disappear, but what mountain  _ didn’t _ have any mysterious disappearances? It had always been assumed that the occasional camper had fallen off the trail, or was attacked by a bear. Even a serial killer seemed more likely than genuine  _ monsters. _

And yet, somehow, monsterkind had emerged from the depths of the mountain, telling tales of ancient wars, banishment, and magic. Magic that monsters could use to heal, to defend, or to attack.

Many humans were terrified, despite the claims that humans could use magic too, but many others were excited. Real monsters, capable of wielding magic? It sounded like something straight out of a story book.

The monsters did not immediately descend the mountain though, and it seemed no one could give a clear answer as to why. Some stated bureaucracy, claiming monsterkind was busy being documented and legalized before they were allowed into town. Others claimed they were waiting for proper homes to be built at the outskirts of the tiny town of Ebbot, and a few even claimed they were hiding from the initial haters and bigots, waiting for things to calm down.

You, frankly, couldn't care less.

* * *

 

 

You watched carefully as Jennifer paced across the floor, trying to patiently ignore the steady  _ click, click, click _ of her heels against the tile.

Jennifer herself was a tall, excitable woman, with long dyed blonde hair tied carefully back to keep it out of the food. She dressed a little brighter then you'd like, leaning towards sequins and rhinestones and bright, shiny jewelry. Today it just so happened to be a bold, attention grabbing, watermelon pink dress. Only complete with matching high heels and large bracelets that jingled occasionally of course.

_ Click, click, jingle, click. _

"I just can't believe they actually let me in you know? Apparently there was a last minute cancellation or something? And suddenly _ boom _ I've got a letter asking me if I can be there by tomorrow!" Her voice is high and fast, clear and precise where yours often wasn't. Pink lips wrapping around words with careless confidence.

_ Jingle, Click, Click, Click, Jingle. _

"Now, I know this is awfully short notice, but this is my dream school! I was going to be heading out in three weeks for that one in the next city over, you know, the community college? But this, this is the opportunity of a lifetime!" Her pacing picks up speed, until it's a steady  _ Cli-click, Cli-click, Jingle, Cli-click. _

"Will you be okay though? I mean, I've got this friend Jake, he's done tons of cashier work before, I could call him up and ask him to take over if you need me to? Or Mandy's been looking for a job I think? She's sorta the shy type, but I think you'd like her."

_ Cli-click, Cli-click, Jingle, Cli-click _

You tried to smash down your irritation, the part of you that screamed about how you were  _ more than capable _ of running a business on your own,  _ thank you very much. _ Sure, maybe you weren't the biggest fan of cashier work, but you'd manage! You always had before after all. You didn't need her  _ pity. _

_ Stop. Take a deep breath. You're overthinking this. Jennifer doesn't pity you, she doesn't know, she's just trying to help. _

_ Even if you don't need it. _

"I, I'll be, be fine." You spoke quickly, trying to make up for your too long pause.

_ Cli-click, Jingle, Cli-click, Cli-click. _

"I, I can, can handle-" _ Cli-click, Cli-click  _ "the, the customers, my, myself Jennifer."  _ Jingle, Cli-click. _ "At, At Least, Until,"  _ Cli-click, Cli-click _ "UNtil I FInd, FInd A, A GOod, GOod, REpLacEMENT." Your voice wavered, pitching up too loud, and then dropping off into a whisper without your consent. You could feel heat rising to your cheeks, burning shame hot on your neck.

_ Jingle, Cli-click, Cli-click, Jingle, Cli-click. _

_ Of course you'd do this now. Can't even pretend to be normal for one day. How do you expect to handle customers when you can't even speak a full sentence without stumbling all over yourself! _

"You're stuttering again Annie, and I've told you before to call me Jenny! Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I know you don't like people. There's nothing wrong with that! Just, let someone else take over for a little bit. I know Flour Power is your baby, but Jake and Mandy are nice people! Besides, with all the tourism monsters have brought in, you need someone back there baking all the time." The clicking stopped, leaving you in blissful silence. It gave you a few brief seconds to focus, but that was enough.

"I'll be fine Jennifer, I, I really can handle my, myself. Just because, because I stutter, it, it doesn't mean I'm, I'm helpless."  _ And yet you've already lost control of your volume? Jennifer may be nice enough to not point it out, but that one practically echoed off the walls! You truly are hopeless. _

_ Breath. Calm down. You're only like this because you're stressed. _

_ I've always managed to handle the store alone before, and I'm more than capable of doing so again. I have more than enough scripts memorized to get me through a week or two without a meltdown. It might not be perfect, or graceful, but it doesn't need to be. Lots of people are bad at public speaking, it doesn't mean your helpless. _

"Look, I know your worried but-" A brief pause as you gather your thoughts.  _ Comfort words don't fail me now! _ "I can do this alone, even if it doesn't always seem like it? This isn't exactly the first time I've been left with a week or two where I didn't have any cashiers available."  _ Good, good! You haven't even stuttered yet!  _ "I'll admit, I'm not the best cashier in the world, but do I really need to be?"

If there was a little bit too much silent preening at having successfully rattled off an entire stutter-free speech while under stress, well, you'd never admit to it.

It certainly got Jennifer to relax a bit, if the sudden drop in her shoulders meant anything. Absently, you fought against the urge to rub the edges of your peach dress together. It wasn't even the silky smooth stuff that was great for stimming with. Well, the white bow was, but that was too high up to be subtle.

"I just worry is all, especially with all those rumors going around. Some people have started saying that the monsters might be let out of the reservation soon!" A little bit of excitement had leached back into Jennifer's voice at the topic change, but much to your relief she hadn't gone back to pacing yet. "I mean, that's a ton of potential new customers, plus all the tourists that'll be coming down to see them! And we don't even know what kind of customers they'll be! What if they're all super picky and rude?"

"That's pretty much, pretty much exactly what, what people are like now? As long as, as they don't, don't get violent I, I should be fine." You held up a finger, something Jennifer understood by now meant you were thinking something through before you spoke. She waited patiently through your long pause, and you momentarily mourned the fact that you were going to have to replace her.

"Weren't they planning to, to keep their descent a secret? I thought they wanted to prevent, uh." You scrunched your nose a little, trying to catch the right word as it rattled around in the back of your mind. "Violence? Attacks? No uh, terrorism." You nodded to yourself, trying to ignore the amused smile slowly forming on Jennifer's face. "They wanted to prevent terrorism against monsterkind by making sure no one had a chance to set up, set up bombs and, and stuff. Beforehand." You could feel a little warmth spread to your cheeks at your faulty ending, but your point was made at least.

Jennifer, as always, took it with grace and pretended nothing weird or dumb had been said at all. "They still are! None of the rumors have been confirmed yet or anything, it's just." Jennifer gestures at the air slightly, eyebrows furrowed either in confusion or amusement. "They've been running searches on those new apartment buildings they finished a few days ago. Lots of people have been saying they're bomb checks, and last minute inspections to make sure the hasty construction didn't make them uh, lesser? You know, not as stable, up to code and all that."

_ Ah, confusion then probably? _

_... _

_ Is that really what I'm going to focus on right now? Seriously, monsters, inspections. Get your head in the game Alanna. _

Before you could voice your concerns, Jennifer seemed to have already picked up on them. "They didn't find anything, don't worry. Seems like people are at least decent enough to give the monsters a chance before they try to kill them all." A frown tugged at her lips slightly, disappointment and worry you guessed. Personally you didn't care much about the new race, but you didn't want them dead either.

"Still, it's a bit of a shame I won't be able to see them in person you know? I mean sure, there's gonna be pictures and stuff, but it's a whole new race! Finding out about them online just seems wrong somehow." Jennifer was pouting, the same sort of exaggerated pout she always used when she wanted you to do something. Not this time though, you weren't going to waste precious energy on stalking monsters for her, especially when you were already going to be doing cashier work. Nope.

"Sorry Jennif- Jenny." You changed the name at the last second, despite the twinge of annoyance the informality gave you. "I'm not going to, to have a chance. To uh, spy on monsters for you." Jennifer shot you a glare, one you were  _ pretty sure _ was meant in jest. You sent your best derisive smirk in return. "I'm going to be far too busy with other important matters. Like uh, cashiering?"

_ Well so much for that confidence! Turns out we just aren't meant to look cool. Shame. _

Jennifer chuckled, seeming more amused then genuinely disappointed. "Well then, I suppose pictures will just have to-"

**_SLAM!_ **

Both you and Jennifer jumped and spun at the loud crash, and you barely caught sight of the door ricocheting back off the wall, nearly hitting the offender in the face for his door related crimes.

_ Shame it didn't make contact, that would have been fitting revenge. The store isn't even OPEN thank you! _

"Monsters! They're letting monsters down the mountain, down on Lavender Street! You have to come see!" The person shouted, a teenage boy barely reaching six feet. You'd barely moved past his ridiculous orange shorts by the time he'd bolted back out the door, not bothering to wait for a response.

"...Well, that was rude now wasn't it?" You muttered after a moment, still staring wide eyed at the now-closed door. Somewhere in the back of your mind you were glad you'd had the bell removed from the door.

"Did, did he just say Monsters? Oh my god, Alanna we have to go see them! This is the chance of a lifetime!" Jennifer was bouncing on the balls of her heels again, the  _ Click, Click, Jingle, Click  _ ringing out louder then ever after the shock of the door slamming.

You definitely weren't going anywhere right now, especially when you  _ just really didn't care. _ You honestly doubted you'd make it long in that crowd without descending into a full blown meltdown. All of that noise, dozens of people bumping into you trying to reach the front, the endless gawking.

Well, needless to say it didn't interest you, especially if you were only going to see a couple of odd looking people you'd probably be seeing on a regular basis from now on. Nope, no thank you.

You were about to respond, to tell her nicely that  _ no thank you, how about I hold things down here while you check them out? _ A perfectly understandable response in your opinion.

And then you felt her grab your arm.

You felt something midway between sparks and the burning feeling that came from standing too close to a flame shoot up you arm. It crackled and burned, strongest where she gripped you around the wrist, jumping up and down you arm and pooling at the back of your neck.

Without thinking, you yanked your hand back, turning your focus to uncoiling your painfully taut muscles. Instinctively, you almost began to flap your hands, just to relieve the tension.

_ Shit, Jennifer's still here. _

You froze, trying to rapidly come to some sort of explanation, to hide what had really happened.

Jennifer wasn't waiting though.

"I'll just, go alone then. Hope you find another cashier soon I guess." She turned away from you, leaving you uncertain if she was angry or just disappointed. You wondered if it really mattered.

_ Maybe she's figured it out. Maybe she's going to tell everyone you're a freak, that you can't even touch people without freaking out. _

_ No, Jennifer wouldn't do that, even if she did know. She'd probably just keep it to herself, right? _

Somehow, watching her walk out the door with stiff shoulders and a hung head, you found it hard to believe she wouldn't.

* * *

  
  
A day passed, and then two, and three, without incident. None of your regular customers suddenly disappeared, or gave you odd probing looks. No one confronted you about your stutter, or why you hated touching people. You were safe.

Not that your anxiety really got the memo of course.

Still, everyone seemed to be focused on one thing, which definitely wasn't your mental health.

_ Monsters. _

Every customer who walked in had their own opinions and questions.  _ Monsters look freaky, I don't trust them. That little reptile monster was badass. The goat monsters were huge, are they really royalty? Do you really think they can do magic? _

You tuned most of it out honestly, simply smiling and nodding absently at anyone who attempted to discuss it with you. You hadn't even met a monster yet, and you really couldn't find the energy to pretend to care, even if you probably should.

You had bigger problems anyway.

Most of your attention had been divided between attempting to manage a business alone, and coping with the complete radio silence from Jennifer. It was unnerving, going from constant cat pictures and updates on her daily life, to several days of complete silence. At least work kept you busy enough that you could mostly ignore it during the day.

_ She should've at least sent something by now right? Some news gushing about how amazing her dream school is? _

_ I suppose that makes another friendship ruined then. _

You sighed, mentally shaking yourself free of the negative thoughts.  _ She probably just needs some time to process everything and move in. Everything's fine. Although it probably wouldn't hurt to text her first. Maybe even include an apology. _

You were still rolling the options over in your head trying to work out what you should do, when you heard the telltale swoosh of the door being opened. You quickly snapped to attention, hoping you wouldn't come off as unprofessional to your new customer, when they finally caught your eye.

The customer in question was very obviously a monster. Five dark eyes arced across her forehead, blinking one at a time in a row, just above a fanged grin caught somewhere between intimidating and adorable. Straight black pigtails stood in stark contrast to her pale lavender skin, which nearly glowed in the light of the sun. Two hands had opened the door, but another set was focused on straightening her hard, and another on dusting off her fluffy pink dress. You barely noticed the silence that had swept over the bakery, to caught up in a singular thought.

_ No one told me monsters were  _ _ cute. _ _ That's just not fair. _

The monster stepped forward, seemingly unbothered by the staring, and you took that as your cue.

"Welcome to Flour Power bakery! What can I get you today!"  _ Hah! Take that stutter, even cute monsters can't beat the power of a memorized script! _

The monster herself blinked, seeming almost a little... startled? Mentally you ran over the short introduction in your head. You hadn't stuttered, or misspoke, and it may have been a touch too loud, but it shouldn't have been noticeable. So why...?

"Ahuhuhu, such a cheery greeting! And here I'd thought all humans had a habit of gawking at their customers." The monsters tone was high pitched and cheery, but considering how not one human had looked away from them even now... Well you felt safe assuming that there was a healthy dose of sarcasm involved.

"It's probably because you're really cute."  _ WAIT NO- _

The monster in question froze, and both of you blushed simultaneously, based on the heat burning all the way up to your ears. The monsters blush was a cute deep purple  _ but it was so not worth it whydidyousaythat. _

And then she was laughing. Not the usual condescending laughter that normally followed your screw-ups, but a genuine, if shy, laugh.  _ Okay, maybe that was worth it. _

"Ahuhuhu, well that's not, not quite what I would've guessed." The monster stuttered slightly, but straightened their back and crossed their bottom two sets of arms, seeming a little sterner when they continued. "My name is Muffet dearie, and I'd like to apply to a job here if that's possible?"

It was your turn to be caught off guard apparently. "Oh, oh yeah, sure. I, I have, have two, two positions uh, open."  _ So much for your script, huh? _ "There's a uh, a baker, baker position, uhm, open, and, and a cashier one?" Carefully, you pulled out a small stack of job applications, not trusting yourself to grab only one at a time. "You need to, uh, fill out one, one of these. First I, I mean. You can uh, take some, some extras too? If, if you know uh, any, anyone else who, who might be uh, interested."

Muffet herself looked a little surprised, but you mentally wrote that off. Your stutter caught a lot of people off guard, especially after hearing your Script Voice. You honestly couldn't blame them, it was a pretty drastic change, even at the best of times.

It went without saying that standing in front of a cute girl you had just mindlessly complimented was  _ not _ the best of times.

Apparently, it wasn't enough to discourage Muffet though, who swiftly took the entire stack of applications, smirking like she'd won the lottery.  _ I hope she hasn't been having trouble. I didn't think we had many racists around here, but I guess the extra eyes and legs might have thrown some people off. _

"Well dearie, I need to be on my way now, but I assure you my own application will be handed in promptly. Time is money after all! I'll be sure to pass these around the community as well of course, although I doubt you'll find a more qualified baker then me, ahuhuhu~!" Her voice rang with a confidence that almost seemed infectious, causing even your own smile to relax into something a little more natural. Slowly, you even managed to work up the courage to stop ringing your hands, and reach one out for Muffet to take.

"Well, if you bring that, that sort of confidence to, to the interview you, you might just be right." You noted that your voice was steadier now, despite the fact that Muffet was looking between you and your hand in mild shock. Did monsters not do handshakes, or was it that obvious that this wasn't normal routine for you?

Regardless, Muffet reached out with her bottom right hand to take yours. The touch sent sparks shooting through your hand,  like the warm tingle that came from staying out in the sun a little too long. It was still a little overwhelming, but it wasn't outright painful at least.

Muffet's smile softened, drawing your attention to your own too wide smile. Before you could force it back under your control though, Muffet had let go, leaving behind only faint tingles in her place. She didn't bother restating her own goodbyes, instead striding out the door with confidence. She did however send you a little wink over her shoulder with two of her eyes, which was enough to send the blood rushing back up to your face.

_ Dang it, if she gets the job I'm doomed. _

You could feel the eyes of everyone in the store on you, some chuckling at your flustered state while others stared in awkward silence. Refusing to meet their gazes, you instead carefully inspected your stock.  _ I'm probably going to need some more muffins for the lunch rush, right? Yeah let's just uh, make more of those. _

 

If there was still two entire trays of fresh muffins set out on display, well then you obviously must have miscounted.


	2. Phone Calls Require Comfort Nests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phone calls are hard, but blankets and chill skeletons make things a little bit easier at least. Now if only you could figure out what that noise is.

Muffet dropped off six separate job applications early the next morning, but it was early afternoon before the store slowed down enough for you to take a good look at them.

They each had very distinct handwriting you noted. Muffet’s was an elegant, almost cursive style that was a little hard to decipher but very neat, and you took a moment to appreciate the aesthetic of it. She was certainly experienced in baking, referencing a bakery she’d owned underground and several of her customers as references to her baking skills. Monsters must be a tight-knit group if customers could be put as references, your customers would probably do nothing but complain.

She was planning on building a new bakery above ground but monster food hadn’t been cleared for human consumption yet, and she was hoping to learn some human baking methods. She estimated it would at least a couple of months before she quit, which would be plenty of time to find another baker. You’d have to make sure she knew she couldn’t use your exact recipes if you hired her though, and figure out where she was planning on building her bakery. If she planned to build too close you’d have to turn her down to protect your own business. A friendly rival across town might be nice though, if you managed to become friends.

The others were significantly less experienced, the closest being Felix the ice cream salesman. At least you knew he could handle a rush of excited kids, you always had to hide in the back for those ones. Hopefully he’d be as easy on your senses as Muffet was.

Two others made it in the maybe pile, but the others seemed too timid to be good cashiers, and didn’t have enough experience to be bakers. It was a better turn out then the other applications you’d had, most of which had been tourists looking to work part time for three to four weeks to fund their vacation. You needed consistency and besides, people who only intended on taking a temporary job typically didn’t work that hard anyway.

The rest of the day was a little easier with the knowledge that you wouldn’t be alone much longer, but the ribbons around your wrists were still disheveled and creased by the end of the day. At some point you’d pulled a rather large chunk of hair out from your bun and started chewing on it, luckily far away from any of your customers.

* * *

 

Closing up the store took longer than usual without someone there to help with preparations for tomorrow, but the calm relief of baking was worth the extra two hours of free time. Besides, it was six, which meant everyone's references would be free.

Opening the door to your apartment, everything was neatly put away in it’s exact place as always. The few people who had seen it called it eerie, but you loved seeing everything in its designated place. It made it easy to pull out all your blankets and every stim toy you could possibly want and pile them into The Fort of Comfort. The place where all stressful things were done, like phone calls or looking at your bank account.

Keeping a small notebook and no less than five pens nearby, you shuffled through the applications until you found Muffets. Dialing the first number before you could lose your nerve, you carefully read the name as it rang. Hearing the little click that someone had picked up, you sprung quickly int well rehearsed lines.

“Good evening, this is Alanna from Flour Power Bakery calling about Muffet Araneae, is this Papyrus Font?” You really hoped you’d pronounced Muffets last name right.

“it is, this is the part where i talk about how she’s a good worker right? that’s what it said online anyway.” Papyrus was just the slightest bit too quiet like he was trying to hold back his usual volume, and the calm admittance that he didn’t know what he was doing instantly made you relax. Dropping the stress ball you’d subconsciously began rolling in your palm, you picked up a pen and wrote “Muffet: Good with quiet and awkward.” A definite mark in her favor.

“Muffet probably hopes you’ll uh, say all good stuff. But that’s not- I mean, you’re supposed to be honest? Like, don’t lie to get her in please? Just tell me the truth. Like, ah, her foods good but um, maybe she sometimes mixes up stuff? When it gets busy. Because too many hands?” That could have gone better, but Papyrus didn’t laugh at your stumbling like you thought he would. He’d listened patiently, humming in all the right places to let you know he understood your awkward rambling.

Yeah, you really liked Papyrus.

“muffet’s a really strict worker, she needs everything in the right place so she can just grab things when she needs them. she always shows up exactly on time too, she used to tell us when our orders would come down to the second. said time was money and she wasn’t going to waste any money sitting around.” You quickly jotted down Might reorganize, Efficient, and Good sense of time down on the list as Papyrus spoke, before you thought of a question.

“Is she okay with, I mean how does she, uh. She’s used to, um, being in charge? Have you seen her as, as like an employee?” Muffet seemed like a very commanding person, and you didn’t want to be bossed around in your own bakery just because you couldn’t stand up to her. Scripts could only get you so far, and if she interrupted you that would be it. Realistically she didn’t seem like the type to do that, and you could always fire her if things went too far, but you’d rather avoid that situation entirely if you could.

“nah, muffet’s pretty much always been in charge. she’s good at following directions though as long as you’re nice about it, especially when _dough_ is involved.” Papyrus put an odd stress on the word dough, but you ignored it. You had your own share of verbal “quirks” that he was ignoring, you were hardly going to bring up his.

“How is she with more, uhm, ruder customers?” Papyrus was oddly silent for a moment, before you heard an odd noise on the other line, almost like he was choking. “Mr. Font, are you alright?”

The noise only seemed to grow louder, until you heard a faint, choked out “that’s a- _dough_ -rable honey.” but before you could comment on it, he spoke again, louder. “muffet’s pretty _sternum_ with rude customers. She gets a little _sorebet,_ especially if they try to _fudge_ the bill.” You thought you heard groaning in the background, and picked up your stress ball again, unable to escape the feeling that you were missing something important. Quickly you jotted down “isn’t good with rude customers” under Muffet’s steadily growing list of traits.

At least Papyrus was being honest.

The rest of the call went smoothly, Papyrus was the perfect mix of lightly awkward but relaxed. It easily rubbed off on you, and by the end of the call you were comfortably huddled up in your blankets. You were more then happy with what you’d heard about Muffet as well. As Papyrus put it, she was strict and a bit stubborn, especially about money, but genuinely cared for most of her customers. He also gave a glowing review of her baking skills and apparently home-made honey. It was all around very positive.

It almost made you ready for the next call. Almost.

“Right, well thank you Papyrus. You, you’ve really been a great help. That’s about all I needed. I hope you have a, a good night!” It was easier to get the words out when you were this calm, it was so much easier to think them over before you said them.

“glad to help honey, hopefully our paths will _croissant_ again.” Papyrus hung up quickly, but you couldn’t help but hear what sounded like the beginning of a yell and a choking noise. You hoped he was okay, although you couldn’t help but feel like you’d missed something again.

* * *

 

The other calls were easier than you expected. Nobody pointed out your stuttering or laughed, although more than a few sounded slightly surprised. Surprise was easy to handle though, and the calls went smoothly. Muffet had glowing reviews all around, everyone agreeing she was stern but soft. Apparently she tended to up prices for angry or rude customers, but had endless patience with quiet and shy customers, which you could appreciate. Still, you weren’t sure about having her cashier without someone to make sure she didn’t take out her frustrations on the customers.

Everyone apparently agreed that she was quite possibly the best baker in the underground “next to Queen Toriel.” Hopefully the two types of baking were similar enough that Muffet would be equally as good at making non-magic food, and maybe it was rude, but hopefully she didn’t outshine you too much.

Felix, the second monster you were considering, was apparently a cat monster. You were reassured that monster fur both didn’t shed like normal cat hair does, and also didn’t trigger human allergies, which was your main concern. He was apparently fairly good at customer service, if a little disappointed with his job and sales. He wasn’t great on the business management end, apparently determined to sell Nice Cream in the coldest part of the Underground. Predictably, he had very little success.

Still, he was good with kids and selling to a tough crowd, and fairly good with rude customers. He wasn’t good with openly angry ones, but you doubted anyone really was.

Well maybe Muffet was, all her references seemed to think she could take down a bear if it came between her and her money. You’d definitely make sure you didn’t short her on pay day.

Resolutely, you nodded to yourself before making one last call.

“Hello, is this Muffet? This is Alanna from Flour Power bakery, I’d like to schedule an interview.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finally got to introduce Papyrus! Alanna isn't completely ignorant to puns, but she typically has to either be looking for them, or in a relaxed or playful mood for them to register with her. If she's nervous at all, or expecting a serious conversation she'll miss out on them pretty easily. It's okay though! That just means Paps is going to treasure the one that finally makes her laugh forever.
> 
> Now, the obligatory reminder of my tumblr should be just below this, but I'd like to point out that I post the chapter several hours earlier there, for edits and also because I queue it and have to wait. So if your interested check it out!


	3. Ghosts Can Open Doors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Serving monster customers is harder then it looks sometimes, but at least they're polite! Even if you're not quite sure how you knew that Moldsmal wanted a doughnut.
> 
> Why are doughnuts so popular anyway?

Work the next day was different from usual. From the moment you opened the store, you’d been flooded with new monster customers. It was nerve wracking to say the least, especially when you had no idea what had caused the sudden change, but at least they all seemed to be understanding. You’d ran out of donuts four separate times that morning, both from the boost in sales and because monsters apparently really liked donuts, but each time the monsters would simply choose something else or wait for the next batch to be done. It was a nice change of pace from the usual disgruntled grumbling or outright screaming of your human customers.

You were just sliding in two fresh trays of donuts when a pink ghost monster opened the door. You’d wonder how they managed it without arms, except you already had a jello-shaped monster named Moldsmal come in this morning who’d somehow told you they wanted a doughnut through wiggling. If Moldsmal could communicate through dancing, a ghost could open a door and apparently eat donuts.

“Welcome to Flour Power Bakery, how can I help you?” The ghost seems to startle when you speak, and you realize they’d been glancing around the bakery instead of heading towards the counter. “Oh, uh, sorry I didn’t, mean to uh, surprise you?” It came out like more of a question, but the ghost seemed to relax a little anyway.

“It’s quite alright darling, I just wanted to be sure I was in the right place. This is the same Flour Power Bakery that’s hiring monsters correct?” You freeze for a moment, hyper aware of the fact that you technically hadn’t hired any monsters yet.

“Well, uh, I’m not against hiring monsters? I haven’t actually uhm, hired any though. Yet. I do have, a few? That I’m considering? But they aren’t actually, like, hired yet?” You pause for a moment, trying to gather the words together before you say them in a desperate hope to look even a little professional. “Did you want one? An application I mean. No one’s been uh, technically hired so you can still, still apply?” You begin pulling out an application for them before once again realizing they didn’t have hands. “Oh shoot uh, can you hold stuff? You don’t have hands I mean, do you need uh-”

The sound of the ghosts laughter cut you off, and you could already feel your face going red. So much for pretending to be professional, you were probably as pink as they were by now.

“I’m not here for an application darling, and ghosts can hold things just fine. Although we do levitate them more than actually hold them. Unfortunately, ghost type monsters like me can’t eat human food, we aren’t nearly corporeal enough for that. We need all our food to be at least eighty-five percent magic, and since humans can’t make magic food…” They trailed off with a little shrug here, and smiled shyly. “Well, let’s just say I’ve been eager to try human food, but unable to find any with enough magic.”

That threw you for a loop, and for a moment you just stood there sorting that out in your head. You new monsters were made of magic, and logically that meant they’d have different needs in their diet, but with so many monsters eating your regular human food right in front of you it forced you to realize just how diverse monsters were. It wasn’t just their appearance that varied wildly so it seemed.

“I see.” You were rather surprised the ghost hadn’t tried to call you back from your thoughts, you must have been silent for at least thirty seconds there. “I don’t think it’s legal to serve uh, magic food? To humans yet?” At least, that was the idea you’d gotten from Papyrus. It was apparently a big reason why Muffet couldn’t open her own shop just yet, it wouldn’t be able to pull in enough profits without human customers. “I’ll have to check if I can, I mean if it’s uh, legal, to make a monsters only selection? I am hoping to hire a, uhm, monster chef, but….” The ghost definitely looked disappointed. They were floating a little lower, barely able to see over the counter, a small tight smile on their face. Mentally you pat yourself on the back a little, when was the last time you realized a smile was fake?

“Is there uh, anything you can have? Like are uhm, drinks okay? Or maybe you can uh, try again? If they’re hired, I should have uh, at least? One? Monster employee by Monday? At the very latest. And if I can’t, uhm, actually sell it, They can’t stop me from just, giving it? Like a gift?” It would only be fifteen percent actual food after all right? If Muffet didn’t agree you’d just stick an extra dollar in her paycheck or something, it really wasn’t that big of a loss.

“Oh it’s alright darling, waiting a few more days hardly matters really. Thank you for the offer though, it really is very kind of you. I’ll stop by on Monday then if I can darling, save a seat for Hapstablook will you?” The ghost, Hapstablook you assumed, had brightened up considerably when you mentioned you might be getting a monster chef on Monday, going so far as to wink at you as he made his ‘reservation’. You hoped Muffet was a good fit, you really didn’t want to let him down.

“We don’t really uh, do res- reservations here? I’ll try my, my best though. It’s been really, ah, exceptionally busy. Here lately. I’ll still try? Uhm.” Hapstablook cut you off with his laughter, causing you to flush a little.

“You don’t have to do anything darling~! I’m hardly important enough to warrant special treatment. I do appreciate the thought though, I suppose I’ll be seeing you soon…?” He trailed off at the end, leaving an embarrassingly long moment before you realized he was waiting for your name.

“Oh! Uh, call me Alanna.” A few of your human customers laughed, the sound grating on your ears even through the constant chatter of the store, but you noticed none of the monsters seemed to be mocking in the slightest. A few of them were even offering encouraging smiles or gestures, including Hapstablook and a cute lizard-dinosaur kid with no arms who was practically jumping out of his seat.

You were really beginning to like monsters. You weren’t sure if they just thought you were shy, or were genuinely that accepting, but they just seemed to react differently than humans did.

“Alanna! Well then, hopefully I’ll be seeing you Monday Alanna dear!” You barely registered Hapstablook leaving over another, more important realization.

Hapstablook hadn’t nicknamed you.

It was dumb, it was weird, but you absolutely hated nicknames. They just didn’t feel right. Sure, if someone chose a new name for themselves that was fine, you didn’t insist on dead naming anyone,but shortening someone’s name or calling them something else had always just felt wrong to you. You weren’t Ally, or Annie, or Anna no matter how many people insisted on calling you that. Very, very few people understood that though, especially without a botched explanation from you where you tried not to mention autism outright.

Hapstablook didn’t nickname you though, even though he definitely seemed like the type. In fact, the moment he got your name he stopped calling you darling.

You weren’t sure how you felt about that.

A tiny part of you admitted you appreciated it though. Just a bit.

* * *

 

You had closed the store an hour early today to prepare for your meetings with Muffet and Felix, but it didn’t feel like enough. You had cleaned everything twice, made sure everything was in its place, and set out samples for them to try. Honestly the samples were more for Muffet, to see if there would be any trouble mixing monster food and human food taste wise. Although from what you heard Felix seemed to be a rather nervous person, so hopefully the treats would be able to calm him down a little too.

You knew it was stupid to be trying to impress them, they were applying to your store, not the other way around. You really couldn’t help it though, the bakery was your home, more-so than even your apartment was. Plus, you were honestly hoping you’d have a better working relationship with your new employees then the one you’d had with Jennifer, and Muffet at least seemed like she might be okay to work with. Then again anything was better then the constant over stimulation Jennifer gave you, followed up by prying questions on why you always acted so weird.

A knock at the door startled you out of your thoughts from the sheer strangeness of the sound. It wasn’t often someone knocked on the wooden door to the bakery instead of walking straight in, and immediately you stood to open it.

On the other side stood an orange cat-like monster, avoiding eye contact as he wrung his hands. Even without having seen him before you were able to recognize him immediately based on the description on of his references had given you.

“Ah, hello? You’re Felix Burgerpants right? I’m Alanna Johnson, please come in.” You had spent almost your entire free hour repeating that out loud, and you were almost proud of how well it had come out before you realized Felix had frozen.

“Hey uh, do you mind calling me Felix? Just Felix. Burgerpants is a rather, uh, unfortunate nickname I had Underground. I didn’t have an actual last name so when I got registered they put it down, but…” He trailed off, but it was still painfully obvious how embarrassing this was for him. He had the most expressive face you’d ever seen, it was honestly impressive how easy it was for you to read him.

“Yeah, um, that’s fine. It’s uh, no problem Felix.” Both of you stood there awkwardly for a minute, avoiding each others eyes before you finally realized you were still standing in the doorway. “Oh! Right, um, sit down? Please? I have some samples left over from today if you want to try any?”

After that the interview went smoothly. While Felix wasn't exactly calm or relaxed, he did seem happier and a little more open after a few cookies. He admitted that his real passion was acting, but that it didn't seem like a good idea to put himself in the public eye just yet, where any racist could pick him out as a target. Especially when he didn't know much about human cultures or customs. He wasn't the biggest fan of customer service, having health with enough angry parents and bratty kids for a lifetime, but had proven surprisingly good at it underground.

Apparently the ice cream cart he'd ran had been dumped by another monster who hadn't seen enough success to keep it running, and Felix had picked it up in the hopes of making some spare cash. He'd been bored waiting around for customers when he came up with the idea of writing nice sayings on the wrappers, which had apparently boosted his popularity drastically.

The real kicker though, was his attitude. Despite how nervous he was normally, when confronted with an angry, but nonviolent, customer he took it in stride and simply stopped caring. It was a tactic that apparently worked well on both bratty children and demanding adults, although it resulted in more angry screaming then strictly necessary. It wasn’t ideal, but it was definitely leagues better than you having to deal with the angry customers yourself like you’d feared.

Throughout the entire interview, Felix proved to be eccentric, but relaxed unless presented with something that really caught his interest, like acting. His favorite dessert was obviously the white chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter chunks. He'd eaten almost the entire plate of them, which honestly made you feel better. No matter how successful Flour Power became you always enjoyed seeing someone genuinely enthusiastic about your baking. Maybe you’d let him take home some of the leftovers every day.

“I think I’ve heard enough Mr. Felix, are you available at five a.m. on Monday? I know it’s pretty early but I, I want some extra, extra prep-time for the first little uh, week or two so I can, can show you the ropes? And maybe uh, teach you some basic baking skills? Just in case we ever, uh, need you in the back.” You’d expected him to look sad or disappointed at the early wake up time, but instead the cat monster looked absolutely ecstatic.

“Wait, you mean I got the job?! Don’t worry little buddy, er, Ms. Johnson I mean. I’ll be here at five o’clock sharp. Is it cool if I bring coffee though? And is there a dress code or anything I need to worry about meeting?” As quickly as he’d gained his excitement it was lost to obvious worry, wringing his paws behind the table between you. You definitely couldn’t judge though, you’d been rubbing the tag of your shirt ever since you sat down.

“Yeah, you got the, uh, job. Coffee is fine, just keep it under the uh, under the counter so it’s not in, in the way. Dress code is? Pretty relaxed I guess? Don’t wear uh, t-shirts and jeans but it’s cool if you don’t wear like, button up shirts everyday? Business casual basically. You don’t need to uh, match the pastel theme either. Alanna is fine, by the way? I mean I’m calling you Felix so uh, you might as well?” There, that was good enough right? You’d come in wearing your pajama bottoms on more than one occasion when regular clothes were too over stimulating, so maybe it was a bit hypocritical asking him to dress nicely, but he was basically the face of the company now. “Oh, and uh, you can take a couple, of uhm, leftovers at, at the end of the day. If you’d like. We make new stock every, every morning so it’s, if you’d like….” You trailed off at the end there, uncertain of how you wanted to say it, but Felix seemed to have gotten the idea.

“Thanks Ms. J- er, Alanna. I’ll be here Monday then.” Both of you stood there awkwardly for a minute, before Felix took the initiative and turned to leave. You could hear a quiet “Thank you" whispered as he left, but chose not to acknowledge it. Muffet would be arriving in half an hour, just enough time to clean up everything one last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long! I tried my hand at NaNoWriMo this year, and won! I've got a stockpile of chapters now though, and of another fic, so hopefully I'll have more consistent updates!


	4. Spiders and Creepy Crawlies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muffet finally gets her interview, but things don't go quite as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Description of a meltdown, and possible triggers for people with arachnophobia. If your sensitive to that sort of stuff take care. The specifics aren't too important to the plot, and I'll put a summary at the bottom.

Muffet arrived fifteen minutes earlier than her interview time, which you had honestly expected. Although she definitely put money at the top of her priorities, she seemed like a hard worker. Part of that probably had to do with the fact that you would be in charge of her paycheck if she passed this interview.

You weren't quite sure if you liked her yet if you were honest. Sure, she seemed nice enough, and she'd be easy enough to work with, but you didn't know her well enough as a person to decide if you'd be able to count her as a friend in the future. Plus, she was really intimidating, even dressed in pastels and staring down a plate of brownies.

Scratch that, _especially_ dressed in pastels and staring down a plate of brownies.

"So you want me to sample some of your dishes and see how they compare to monster food? Ahuhuhu, dearie won't you be able to tell yourself after you sample some of mine?" Muffet was perfectly poised even while being interviewed, unlike you and Felix. Honestly you were kind of jealous how easy it seemed to be for her.

"Legally, we uh, we don't know if, um, monster food is, is safe for humans yet. So I can't, um, try as much of, of your food as, as you can try of mine? Plus I'm, I'm more interested in, in if we could uh, mix the two together? In the, the future of course, and you, you'd have a better idea of, of what that entails then uh, then me." Plus, you just really didn't like trying new foods. Muffet didn't need to know that though. You'd have to try a lot of what she baked over the next few weeks anyway, to judge her baking style and make sure her knowledge of monster cooking transferred over well.

You really hoped it did, finding another baker who wanted to stay long term would be hard with all the tourism right now, and they might not be so relaxed with your "quirks".

Muffet seemed to squint at you a bit before she spoke, and something told you that you'd messed up somehow.

"I assure you, my baking is perfectly fit for human consumption, Frisk was perfectly fine eating it underground." Her voice was short and clipped, you had definitely overstepped a line there.

"I, I know that, that it's fine, fine to eat, it's, it's just…" You trail off for a moment, trying to find the right words, but Muffet seems to be glaring at you now, and that's definitely not making anything easier. "It's not legal, to sell yet, right? I don't, don't want you to, to get, get in trouble if, if I have an, an allergy, or, or something. Frisk is, is the uh, ambassador right? The, the child? They usually, usually adjust better, better than adults. I don't want you to, to not be able to, to open your, your bakery because, because of me." Muffet's glare had lessened a bit it seemed, but she was now firmly staring at the wall. You really hoped she didn't assume that you thought her cooking was bad. If you didn't feel like you were about to get sick from nerves you might have tried an extra treat or two just to make things a little more right.

The interview after that was tense, although things did brighten up a bit after you got to the actual food tasting portion. Even though she'd owned a bakery underground, there was always that fear of wannabe bakers bringing in their own home recipe lemon squares that "everyone loved!" but really no one was brave enough to tell them actually sucked.

Muffet's cooking wasn't like that though. You'd tried one of her donuts since yours had gotten incredibly popular in the last twenty-four hours. It'd been sweet but not over-bearing, incredibly soft and had actually dissolved in your mouth. Apparently the magic content was the reason it dissolved, which answered _so many_ questions on how Hapstablook ate. You weren't sure if the feeling of food dissolving in your mouth was a good one or not yet, but it was certainly… unique.

"What, is your um, target pay range?" That probably could have been worded better, but Muffet seemed to get the gist if the determined look in her eyes and three sets of rubbing hands meant anything. (Interestingly enough, you noted that her hands didn't match up evenly, top left meeting with bottom right, middle meeting top right, and bottom meeting middle right. You supposed that meant she didn't have any problems using them all in tandem, and didn't use them in sets as you’d expected.)

"Ahuhuhu, well as you know I am _quite_ the experienced baker, and with me on your staff I can guarantee you'll get a lot more monster customers." You filed that fact away as a point in her favor, monsters had rapidly become your absolute favorite customers of all time. Not only were they easy to recognize, but they'd proven to be incredibly encouraging and quick to pick up on your quirks. You assumed so at least, maybe monster culture was just like that? Either way, they tipped better than any other customer you'd ever had, and were incredibly fun to be around too. One had put _actual gold coins_ in your tip jar!

"Ahuhuhu, I'd appreciate if we agreed to at _least_ 100G a day." That was an odd way to put it, but Muffet seemed incredibly pleased with herself. You did the math in your head quickly before responding, honestly a little surprised.

"That's uh, twelve fifty an, an hour right? Um, I'm not sure how, how G uh, compares to dollars? but that's… that's pretty uh, average for a baker? I was um, figuring closer to, to fourteen dollars an hour." You hoped you didn't have to explain taxes to Muffet, that was a conversation that would go very, very badly. You should probably look up laws on monster employees now that you'd thought about it.

"Ahuhu, I believe our G ended up being worth quite a bit more than that dearie, I believe it was close to a thousand per G!" While Muffet chuckled behind one of her hands, your jaw dropped in awe. Muffet had to have at least a _hundred thousand dollars_ by that rate, and she wanted just as much per day if she was going to work for you.

"Ah, um, look Muffet, I, I can't offer nearly, nearly that, that much to hire, hire you. Most people who, who get paid uhm, that much, well uh, they own big companies. I don't uh, see that much, much money in, in a year." Muffet blinked at you surprised, each eye closing individually in a wave. She was silent for a long moment, staring at you as if she was trying to figure something out, but she finally spoke.

"You don't seem like a liar." Her voice was flat, not in annoyance, but as if she was simply stating a particularly obvious fact. A little bit of her cheer came back as she continued. "Alright, I'll trust you on this ahuhuhu, but if you're lying to me I'll have to let my spiders play with you~! I'll expect full compensation as well of course!"

Muffet seemed pleased enough with her decision, but she'd managed to make you _incredibly_ nervous in the process. You felt like bugs were crawling over your skin, unable to stop picturing thousands of tiny spiders crawling over you, and eating you bit by bit, crawling down your throat-

You felt something crawl up your foot, immediately followed by a second and a third, and you _screamed_ . You couldn't see Muffet's face as you threw yourself out of your chair and wildly scratched at your arms, a desperate whining sound making its way out of your throat. Suddenly the lights were entirely to bright, the feel of the tile under you sharp and cold, scraping and grabbing at any surface that touched it. Desperately, you pushed yourself forward and back, forward and back, focusing on the soothing rhythm when suddenly something grabbed you, and your sharp whine pitched up into a full on shriek. You couldn't tell what it was, you had closed your eyes at some point to try and block out _something_ , and there was _too much_ to even try to figure it out. Frankly, you didn't care what it was as long as it _stopped, right now_.

There was noise now, quiet but constant and grating. You tried to press your hands over your ears, but it disappeared before you could finish the motion. You did it anyway, just in case the noise came back, and suddenly it felt like your hands were the only things holding your head together.

It felt like hours had passed before the prickle in your skin started to fade, and your desperate screeching petered out into hoarse wimpers. You were immediately swamped by a heavy blanket of exhaustion that blissfully dulled the world around you enough for you to open your eyes.

Muffet looked absolutely _panicked_ , not to mention incredibly guilty. She was backed clear up to the opposite wall, all six arms held up in the universal gesture for "Don't shoot me I'm unarmed." A single piece of paper laid in front of you, covered with messy scrawling, most of it scratched out except the words "I'm sorry" "Are you okay?" and "Should I get help?"

Part of you teared up at how much this complete stranger cared, making you realize your cheeks and the knees on your jeans we're already soaked. You tried to pull yourself into a straighter sitting position to signal you were alright, but Muffet seemed to flinch even further back at the movement.

"I, I'm." Your voice broke, and you were thrown into a coughing fit for a few moments before you could speak again. "I'm alright."

" _That_ is certainly not alright dearie!" Muffet, blissfully, kept her voice even and quiet, a blessing on your poor aching head and overstimulated body. "That was, was, I don't know! But it certainly looked painful and distressing, which is quite the opposite of _alright_ ." Muffet covered her face two sets of hands and sighed deeply, seeming to crumple inward from the stress. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know it would scare you that badly. I'd heard some humans we're scared of spiders, but you always seemed so _okay."_

You flinched at her words, and she immediately went to apologize, but your filter was shot after your meltdown. You weren't waiting for someone else to tell you that clearly you were _broken,_ you weren't _okay,_ just because of one meltdown.

"I AM okay. I had a meltdown. I am not _hurt_ , I am not _broken_ , I am not suddenly incapable of working with you." There was a brief moment of warning bells, trying to warn you that you _definitely needed to stop talking,_ **_right now_ ** **.** You immediately stomped them down, too emotional and tired to care. "I'm autistic alright? Sometimes I meltdown. It sucks, but it's absolutely manageable. I run a business, on my own! I am not lesser just because I'm different alright!" Muffet looked shocked, although you weren't sure if it was from the announcement, the raised voice or both. Honestly, right now you didn't really care which it was.

Shakily, you stood, leaning heavily on the wall. "We should probably continue this tomorrow. Take the night to think about if you can handle… Everything. And uh, research the normal salary of a baker I guess. I'm gonna. Lock up I guess. Ten good? It's a Saturday so I'm free."

Muffet looked at you like you'd just, well like you'd just had a meltdown you supposed. You hoped she'd leave soon, you really needed some sleep and you couldn't have this conversation tonight.

"You, you still want to interview me?" It was almost a whisper, but at this point every breath you took sounded like a gunshot.

"Yeah, I still need a baker. Plus there's a ghost monster I told could try some of my 'human food' Monday." You didn't bother trying to analyse her reaction, you were too exhausted to get anything more then wild speculation for it anyway. Instead, you did your best to shove off the wall and start cleaning up all the food still left on the table. You probably should have tried eating some of it to wake you up a little bit, but the mere thought of eating sent your stomach rolling so hard your knees almost buckled. You almost offered Muffet the chance to take some of it home, it was better then it going to waste after all, but you couldn't gather up the energy to actually say the words.

You were honestly surprised when Muffet came over, almost silent and doing her best to keep her distance, but still noticeably helping. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get you to flip over one of the legal documents you'd left on the table and haltingly write "You can take some of the food if you'd like." Not bothering to watch for her response, you knelt down to grab your fallen chair, keeping it carefully lifted above the ground even as your arms shook to keep it from scraping against the tile.

The rest of the small cleanup went quickly, partially in thanks to just how quickly Muffet could use her six arms. She'd opted to take every single scrap of food home, which you honestly appreciated since it meant you wouldn't have to take out the garbage again, and risk being overwhelmed by the smell.

It was days like these you appreciated the fact that you only lived about a block away from your store. Trudging home even that short distance felt like a nightmare, you couldn't even begin to imagine what it would've been like if you lived far enough to have to bike or drive there. You weren't sure if it would have been safe in your condition anyway. The walk was made mostly on autopilot, and after what seemed both like an eternity and a few short moments you were falling face first down onto the couch, too exhausted to bother making it all the way to your bed, or to bother with the itchy clothes you normally couldn't stand to lay down in. You'd deal with that when you inevitably woke up in a few short hours anyway, a little more awake and able to make it all the way to your bedroom. Right now, you just needed to recharge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Muffet accidentally triggered Alanna into having a meltdown, from the combined built up stress of holding down the bakery on their own during a sudden influx of customers, the fear of being found out as autistic, and the sudden jolt of fear that finally sent her over the edge.  
> Muffet now knows Alanna is autistic, and has a pretty good grasp on her insecurities. Alanna is still allowing her to have a second interview, much to Muffet's shock.
> 
>  
> 
> This was actually really fun to write! Although now that I'm getting further into it, I feel like I could write the whole fic so much better if I just took the time to rewrite it all. A plan for after it's finished I suppose.


	5. Where Texting Does Not Go Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the mishap with Muffet, Papyrus is concerned, and figures a few texts can't hurt.
> 
> Alanna disagrees.

Cracking your eyes open the next morning felt like the most difficult thing you'd ever done, but you were too restless to be able to stay in bed any longer, and walking around with your eyes closed had proven to be a terrible idea before. The world seemed to groan as you slowly sat up, still feeling gross and achy from your meltdown yesterday. You hadn't had one that bad in a while, which meant you'd been pushing yourself too hard again. Not that you'd really had much of a choice with your only employee suddenly leaving without proper notice. Bills didn't stop for anything after all.

Hauling yourself out of bed felt like a task and a half, but it was leagues better then it would have been if you hadn't gotten up at ten to change and make a quick snack for dinner. You hadn't felt hungry, but then again that wasn't exactly unusual. You'd gotten into the habit of leaving reminders everywhere for stuff like that, it was one of the few things that worked almost all the time. Sure, they weren't always done on time, but they were done and that was the important part.

A shower and a particularly soft set of clothes, (ones with the absolute best kind of tags for stimming with) and you were looking in the fridge for anything that looked even remotely appetizing. Cooking was always harder after a meltdown, but home cooked food did wonders for some of the lingering affects, which usually made it worth it. Eventually you settled on scrambled eggs and some chopped potatoes, to tired to make anything more complicated. Warm cheese and lots of salt sounded perfect.

While waiting for the potatoes to finish, since it appeared that once again you'd failed to time it right and had a few minutes. you took a minute to check your phone, intent on searching up cake decorating videos when you noticed it. You'd gotten a text from an unknown number some time last night.

There was a moment of dull shock where you realized you recognized the number, but not who it was. Usually you probably would have stopped to analyze it, figure out who it was or delete it outright but... It was a text, and really you didn't have the energy to stress over it just now. Instead, you just opened it up.

P: 'hey, how did muffet do on her interview yesterday? she didn't say anything about it.'

P: 'this is papyrus by the way,'

P: 'come one, throw me a _bone_ will you?'

It honestly surprised you that Muffet hadn't told anyone about your meltdown yesterday, you knew for a fact that it made for good gossip from how long it had taken the news from your last major meltdown to die. It had been what, eight months before you stopped hearing "look it's the crazy lady!" everywhere you went, and they hadn't even figure out the name for it. If she'd wanted to, Muffet could probably single-handedly ruin your business and yet she didn't.

You supposed the least you could do was get her friend off her back, she was probably stressed out too after everything. Lying wasn't really something you liked to do though, it created too many problems. How were you going to get around that?

A: 'Ms. Araneae did just fine, but I had a bit of a personal issue come up in the middle of it so we decided to continue the meeting today.'

A: 'I understand your concern for your friend, but I would appreciate if you didn't pry into this because of it's personal nature.'

Texting was so, so much easier then talking. You could take five minutes to get down exactly what you wanted and no one knew, and it sounded so much more professional too. Now that you were thinking about it though, how did Papyrus know your number? Sure you'd called him, but unless he'd saved your number he should've been unable to remember it this long. Was that a normal thing for people to do, save the number of their friends potential future boss? It certainly didn't seem like a normal thing to do, but maybe monster culture was just different in that way.

P: 'no problem, thanks for being honest about it.'

P:'explains why she wouldn't tell me too, probably didn't want to overstep.'

Before you could start to wonder over the accepting nature of monsters for what seemed like the tenth time since they were allowed into your town, you finished putting together the small breakfast you had made for yourself and sat down at the small table you kept in the kitchen to eat at. You had a habit of missing any signals that you were hungry, or getting distracted until your food was too cold to eat and had to be tossed, so you'd made it a point to start eating only at the table in the kitchen to ensure you were actually eating rather then forgetting until you got so dizzy you almost passed out. So far, it seemed to be working.

There was also the fact that after you were done with breakfast you were going to have to think about the inevitable second interview with Muffet and what that would entail. The risk of her trying to dangle your autism over your head or mock you for it was absolutely terrifying, and you really didn't want to think about what you were going to do to prevent it. Mostly because really, there was nothing you could do.

All to quickly breakfast was finished, and the very beginnings of panic began to creep into your system. A quick check of the clock showed it was only eight, you're body too used to getting up any where between four and six to really let you sleep much longer than that. Unfortunately, that meant an hour and a half of trying to beat the panic away with a stick to avoid another meltdown or a panic attack. Unfortunately, your ideas on how to do that were pretty slim. Grocery shopping, while productive, was too crowded to help with over stimulation, and most of your games would either be too much sensory input, or not enough to keep your mind from wandering.

You had to take a couple deep breaths before you froze, and then immediately flipped open your phone and started looking through your contacts. Trying to hold up a conversation like this was a risky move, but if you could find someone relaxed enough it could work.

Your contacts list was fairly short unfortunately. You had your parents of course, but they would nag you about getting a real job, or complain about how you didn't appreciate all the hard work it took to raise you. A couple of old coworkers were in there, but Jennifer would be busy getting ready for college, and a few of those who had found out had either joked about your autism, or pitied you for it, and none of them had kept it a secret.

Honestly, you were beginning to remember why you usually didn't text anyone. Sure,you had a couple of shallow friends you texted occasionally, when you needed someone to force you out of the house before you ended up depressed, or when you needed to info dump about baking or something new you'd started doing. They weren't bad friends per-say, but you weren't as close as you would like. That was admittedly your fault, you weren't good at keeping up conversations from day to day unless you had something you felt you needed to share. Small talk just seemed pointless to you, but without that social.... whatever it was, people didn't feel secure enough to really open up to you.

You'd almost scrolled by Papyrus's name when you paused for a moment to actually consider it. He'd already proven to be nice enough to not pry into your business, and he seemed relaxed enough to be suitably distracting. Sure, you didn't really know each other, but that sort of made it easier to talk to him, not having a face to go with the name.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this." you muttered softly to yourself,  but self control had never been your crowning virtue, and within a minute you'd already sent him a message.

A: 'I know this is a bit weird, but do you mind talking to me for a bit?'

A: 'I can't get my mind off of everything, and since you already know it's easier to talk to you.'

That was entirely too honest, you never should have sent that. You never should have texted him to begin with! He was a friend of someone you were considering hiring! Not only was it completely unprofessional, but it had to be extremely awkward, being messaged out of the blue like that. You were already trying to figure out if you could delete texts when you got a response.

P: 'sure, anything in particular you want to talk about?'

He took that alright, but you hadn't thought about what you actually wanted to talk about! You didn't even know Papyrus, let alone what he'd be interested in!

A: 'Nothing in particular really. I could talk about baking if you're interested I guess, or we can just share little facts about ourselves?'

A: 'Get to know each other better and all that.'

There, that was casual, and it gave him options, and the chance to recommend something else if he was interested.

P: 'getting to know each other is fine, i don't really know much about baking'

P: 'that conversation would be a _dead_ end.'

You.... weren't quite sure why dead was italicized? Or _how_ he'd done that now that you thought about it.  You didn't think you'd seen formatting in a text before.

A: 'Alright then, well as you know my name is Alanna, my favorite hobby is baking, and my favorite color is either yellow or green.'

That was casual right? It was probably a little blunt, but it still counted as small talk right?

P: 'my favorite hobby is probably learning about cars, and my favorite color is orange'

P: 'red is a close second though. i have an older brother, he's the absolute coolest.'

You were honestly surprised how well this was going. Papyrus hadn't minded your blunt texts, and while you weren't talking about anything particularly important, you were already calming down. You quickly set an alarm for when you had to leave in case you got a little too sucked into your conversation before responding.

A: 'I'm an only child unfortunately, but I doubt any sibling of mine could compare to your brother if he's that cool.'

A: 'My favorite food is pretty much anything with potatoes in it, how about you?'

P: 'i'm pretty fond of that dinosaur oatmeal stuff, i had it a lot as a babybones. taco's are pretty cool though, especially the ones my brother makes.'

P: 'they really stand out. absolutely sparkling with personality.'

P: 'my favorite condiment is honey, i put it on everything. you?'

A: 'Does honey even count as a condiment? I mean it's good on breakfast foods, but it'd be too sweet for most things wouldn't it?'

A: 'Although I guess it'd go well with a lot of salty or savory foods, the flavors could compliment each other fairly well. Sweet and sour work together well too.'

A: 'Can't imagine it working well with most vegetables though. Carrots maybe.'

A: 'It's not technically a condiment, but I really like pickles. Mustard if I had to pick a proper condiment but I like the crunch in pickles better.'

A: 'Not a fan of pickle juice though, it's too strong on it's own.'

Oops, looks like you'd gotten a little carried away there. Would he mind? Lots of people found multiple texts annoying you knew, but he'd been sending two or three at a time already, maybe it'd be fine?

P: 'wow, never thought i'd meet someone so interested in how the honey thing worked.'

P: 'guess we just _bee long_ together'

P: 'should have expected as much from a baker, you're just as sweet as honey.'

Did, did he just misspell belong? Should you point it out? Maybe it was just a weird autocorrect thing, or maybe English wasn't his first language? Monsters did live under a mountain for centuries, their language probably changed over time right?

He didn't seem like he'd learned English in the last few months though? You were pretty sure it took longer then a month or two to learn a language.

Shoot, you were taking to long, you needed to respond didn't you?

A: 'Uh, I think you misspelled belong? It's not a big deal just pointing it out.'

You were about halfway through your next message when Papyrus messaged you again, surprising you a bit. he didn't seem upset, but you really didn't understand why he was so... excited?

P: 'oh my stars'

P: 'you aren't pulling my leg right?'

A: 'No? You typed Bee long instead of Belong. Was it auto correct or something?'

P: 'no, it was absolutely intentional.'

P: 'no wonder you weren't reacting did you really just miss them all?'

A: 'Miss all of what?'

You were starting to get concerned, was Papyrus mocking you somehow? You didn't think he was the type, but it was really starting to sound like he was laughing at you for whatever you'd missed. You kinda regretted not pointing out all of his verbal slips on the phone yesterday. Not that you really would have done it, even if you knew he'd been secretly mocking you, but people usually stopped teasing people when their own flaws were pointed out right?

You sighed a little, it was still to mean for you to point out his flaws like that, especially when he couldn't help him. It didn't mean you couldn't call him out on being rude though.

A: 'Are you really laughing at me just because I missed something? I honestly thought you were nicer then that.'

A: 'It's about time I left anyway. Thank you for distracting me at least.'

That probably came out a little ruder then intended, especially considering the rapid fire buzzing that came from your phone as you switched it off. You couldn't read it now, you knew first hand that if this devolved into an angry text fight you'd probably break down into tears. Maybe in a few days when you were a little more stable you could check them out, but not now.

Besides, you were telling the truth You did need to get ready for Muffet's second interview, Which meant showing up early and baking something fresh to calm your nerves. After your meltdown yesterday, the bakery would have to remain closed for today, which meant no marathon baking to calm your nerves. That was alright you supposed, so long as you got something in the over by the time Muffet was there. Plus, there was always the slight chance you could still hire her, then you could spend the day teaching her human baking methods.

Locking the door as you left, you didn't feel excited or confident per-say, but you certainly felt better then you had that morning even in spite of Papyrus's mocking. You held a small amount of hope that maybe today wouldn't be as bad as it seemed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the "slow-burn" portion of the fic. I'm adding an enemies to friends to lovers tag ;)


	6. In Which There Is Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muffet gets her second interview.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this on my phone since I'm moving, so I apologise for any wonky formatting. I should have access to a proper computer on the 2nd, so any issues should be solved then.
> 
> Also, I'm re-writing this story to match with my improved writing style! New chapters will continue until I run out of pre-written ones (at chapter 10 I believe) and I'll be updating rewritten chapters as they're finished.
> 
> There shouldn't be anything new in them, but hopefully the quality will be significantly better, and give me more motivation to write!

By the time Muffet showed up for her second interview, exactly on time instead of early and shuffling her feet, you weren't quite finished with the cinnamon rolls you'd started making. The solution was obvious enough, call her back into the kitchen to observe some of your baking skills before the interview, but it just felt wrong. the kitchen was your hiding hole from the world, and you didn't want someone who could end up mocking you or exposing your secret to the town to taint it with bad memories.   
  
Still, you were disappointed in yourself when you put the fresh dough away in the fridge to roll, cut and bake later. At least you'd have something to work on if this went as badly as you feared.   
  
"Good to, to see you, um, again, Mrs. Araneae. Please, have a uhm, have a seat." Muffet refused to meet your eyes as she crossed the room to sit at the same table as last time, one you were quickly beginning to label as bad luck. Maybe after all of this you should just get rid of it, you didn't want bad memories lingering in your home after all.   
  
Before you even managed to finish sitting down, Muffet was speaking, words pouring out of her mouth in a rush and stumbling over each other like she'd never be able to say them if she didn't do it now.   
  
"I'm so, so sorry Alanna. Ms. Johnson. Whichever you want to be called. Yesterday was all my fault, I should have realized how stressed you were, and even if I didn't, I never should have threatened you. So many humans are afraid of monsters and spiders, and resorting to threats is no way to get a job. When you push away from the table my first instinct was to help sure, but I never should have touched you without permission, even on the arm. Especially when you were clearly panicking and overwhelmed, even more so when it was my fault in the first place. And then I just stood there and watched what was clearly a very private and embarrassing moment for you. I'd even thought to write things down so you could communicate once you were calmer if you wanted, but I didn't just, leave the room, or go to the bathroom and leave you a note on where I was, or even just turn around! I should have been much more respectful of your boundaries then that." Muffet was almost gasping for air when she finished, dark purple tears rolling down her cheeks and hands clamped firmly over her mouth to muffle the noises. You were in shock, still trying to piece together what she'd said in your head. Muffet subtly ducked her head, breaking you out of your revere and forcing you to realize that you probably shouldn't  be gaping at her like this. You turned the whole way around, sitting backwards on the chair with your feet propped on the bar between the legs of the chair as you tried desperately to think through Muffet's speech quickly.   
  
Muffet had apologized. When was the last time someone had sincerely apologized over something caused by your autism? Usually people got defensive when you pointed out something they'd done wrong which, to be fair, you did too. Most people defended themselves on instinct or out of pride, saying they were only trying to help, or that you should stop being so sensitive and just realize they were doing there best. Some people would give an apology if you spelled out exactly what they'd done wrong, but they were never quite that sincere. Muffet had gone out of her way to list of everything she'd done wrong, and apologize for it outright.   
  
You honestly respected her a little for that. You weren't sure you'd be able to fess up so easily like that, especially after something that big. Maybe you ought to write that down later as something to work on about yourself.   
  
"Thank you." You could hear Muffet's breathing stutter when you spoke and winced. "I, I should apologize too. I uh, I'm not, not used to, to people taking the whole, the whole autism thing well. That doesn't, doesn't give me the, the right to, to take it out on, on you though. I should have, have given you a chance. You deserved time to, to react and, and make your own choice. I shouldn't, shouldn't have assumed you, you were like them. I was wrong, and I'm sorry Muffet." You took a bit of a risk using her first name, but with her crying behind you and your meltdown yesterday you assumed you ought to be on a first name basis by now.   
  
Both of you sat in silence for a bit, collecting yourselves. You were rather glad for the chance to sort out the thoughts flying around in your head, but it was hard to concentrate and sit still.   
  
"Hey uh, Muffet? I was uh, making some cinnamon rolls before, before you got here. the dough is done so uh, if, if you'd like to help me finish them?" You knew Muffet wouldn't understand how big this moment was for you, inviting someone who knew about your autism back into the kitchen. She had no idea just how important baking was to you. You still wanted to extend that olive branch though, and hoped she understood what it was, even if she didn't know why it was so significant.   
  
"Of course dearie, I'd love to. Did you want to roll the dough or make the icing?" Muffet's voice was still rather subdued and a little rough from crying, but it definitely sounded happy. Turning around on the chair to face her, you smiled softly when she was already standing and had a hand held out towards you.   
  
"I'll take the dough. We can make something else afterwards too if you'd like, I'm curious to see how magic food works." You grabbed Muffet's hand with only a slight hesitation, unsurprised as the usual static feeling made you want to let go. You were able to let go soon enough though, and you knew it probably made Muffet feel a lot better that you weren't afraid to touch her.   
  
Leading er back into the kitchen quickly became a teaching session on exactly where everything was kept. One that you were a little more honest about then you usually were.   
  
"I like having everything in it's exact places at all times, partly because it makes it easier to grab anything without thinking, and partly because messes just bother me. It's okay to have things out if you're working with it, but stuff like letting dishes pile up or pulling everything out of the drawer while you're looking for the right thing bothers me." As you spoke, you began pulling out the dough you'd made just an hour ago and set it down on one of the counters, easily grabbing the flour and the rolling pin without looking.   
  
"I can understand that dearie, I get the same way myself sometimes. Especially with the way Papyrus used to make a mess of my counters. He drinks honey straight from the bottle, and I make sure to charge him extra for scaring off my customers with it, but it's still such a mess." Muffet took a minute to find a bowl among everything else you'd pointed out to her, but she managed pretty well on her own you noted. Occasionally she'd interrupt herself with little questions like, "Oh is this the human name for snow sugar?" or asking where she could find an ingredient that matched a certain description. Most of her cooking style matched up fairly well, although Muffet seemed surprised she didn't have to add magic to get everything to mix well, and even more so when you mentioned you could make it change colors.   
  
"With monster food, everything takes on the color of the ingredients unless you add in a specific blend of colored magic. Most of my food was purple for example, because I use a lot of purple magic. Not all of it of course, but I'd usually add it to the icing. I could charge more for it that way ahuhuhu!" You smiled at how happy Muffet sounded, even if it was at the expense of her customers. You could tell she was trying to avoid any uncomfortable topics, but with your hands covered in dough, you honestly thought you'd be okay if she asked.   
  
"You know, it's okay if, if you want to ask. There's a, a lot of things people don't, don't know about autism. It's okay if you're curious."    
  
Muffet shrugged and shook her head lightly, but didn't look up from her task as she spoke. "It's alright, we had a few autistic monsters underground, we just didn't really have a name for it. They are who they are and all. Just let me know if I'm overstepping a boundary or something alright dearie?  It does seem as if you're much calmer back here though, you barely stuttered at all earlier." It wasn't phrased like a question, but you could easily tell it was meant to be one.   
  
"Yeah, I've been baking since I was six. The kitchen, the feel of the dough on my hands, the smell of heat and vanilla, it's like home for me. Whenever I need to relax all I need to do if get my hands on some flour and it feels like everything else just fades away for a bit." You closed your eyes for a moment, intent on taking in this moment. Your description didn't even begin to describe what baking felt like to you, but really you didn't think anything could. Baking was you're joy, the light of your life. Nothing could replace it, and nothing could explain it.   
  
Muffet seemed to understand that from the way she simply hummed in response, and allowed the two of you to bake in silence for a while.   
  
  
  
It was a while before the two of you had finished baking, long enough for Muffet to declare it an early lunch and grab a few plates you usually saved for the display case to set out a few of the finished cinnamon rolls and some stolen fruit. Her own donuts were carefully packed away in a box for her to take home with her later. You had a feeling she was planning on selling them to her neighbors as a way to gather business, but you weren't complaining. You'd had more then enough fun showing her how to use food dye to mind her collecting a few extra dollars.   
  
"We never did finish that, that interview did we? I mean, it's probably, probably obvious you're hired at this point but there's, there's still paperwork and negotiations." It had only dawned on you halfway through your shared lunch that you'd neglected to do the thing you'd actually meant to do today, even if you'd had fun in the meantime. The two of you were seated at the bad luck table again, which you were still debating getting rid of, but all the paperwork had been shuffled under the counter yesterday.   
  
"I don't believe we did. Well then I suppose now is as good as time as any to mention that I did look up the average wages for an experienced baker, and I believe fourteen dollars an hour will suit me just fine. For now, ahuhuhu." she narrowed her eyes playfully at you, but you narrowed them right back.   
  
"Now now Muffet, if you want a promotion you're going to have to earn it! You'll have to prove just what those arm's can do on Monday." You grinned and stood up from the table, moving behind the counter to grab the documents you still needed to sign, only to look up and see Muffet already standing on the other side with what was left of your plates set on the counter and her chin placed in four of her hands.   
  
"Ahuhuhu, dearie I assure you, I'll be getting that raise one way or another."


	7. In Which Too Much Happens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the interview, you resolve to have a nice, calm day off tomorrow. Unfortunately, that means other things have to be taken care of first.

Muffet left not long after everything was signed, with instructions to come back at five am sharp on Monday for work. She attempted to stay behind and help clean and lock up, but you assured her there would be more than enough of that to do come Monday. Plus, the monotony of the task was honestly relaxing, and despite how much stressed had been lifted from your shoulders from your talk with Muffet, you still felt like you could sleep for a week. At least you had all day off tomorrow to do exactly that. Provided you actually got everything that needed done this weekend over with anyway. Keeping the bakery open six days a week meant you usually only had one day to get all the shopping and cleaning done for the week, unless you had enough good employees that you could trust to run the store in your absence, which rarely ever happened. You were almost always entirely too anxious to leave your precious store at the tender mercies of even your closest friends.

Still, you were determined to take care of at least the shopping and a load of laundry before you crashed for the night. Honestly if you were getting this excited over a genuine day off, then you really needed a vacation. Hopefully once Muffet and Felix were trained, you'd be able to entrust them with your store for at least a day at a time. Maybe you'd take Mondays off.

Either way, shopping meant a walk back to your apartment, and a ten minute drive over to the nearest grocery store. That wasn't too bad at least, as long as you had a list to help you get in and out as soon a possible. You really doubted the store would be empty on a late Saturday afternoon, and you'd rather not spend hours bumping elbows with strangers over tea.

Washing the dishes and locking up was done soon enough, and you pulled your phone out to make a list of what you thought you needed as you walked but there wasn't much coming to you. You knew you needed milk and some more tea, but unless you stopped into your apartment to make a proper list you were going to have to wing it.

You knew you'd regret it, but honestly you were just too lazy to go upstairs and make a list. Looked like you were winging it then.

"Shoot, I know I need tea, but which one…" Winging it had proven to be the mistake you'd already known it was going to be. You had to go through every isle, no matter how crowded it was, and try and peak around people to look for anything. At least you'd managed to pick up some stuff on sale. Now if only you could remember what your tea was called. You knew it was in one of these blue boxes, but which one…

"Oh, hello there! Are you having trouble finding something?" Hearing the deep, rumbling voice behind you made you jump and turn around, but rather then seeing one of the store's workers behind you, an incredibly tall goat monster was standing behind you. Based on his bright pink Hawaiian t-shirt you were fairly certain he didn't work here, but that pegged the question of why he was talking to a complete stranger at a grocery store. Was that a normal thing for monsters to do? You'd never seen any humans do so, but it was becoming pretty obvious that monsters were far more sociable than humans were.

"Yeah uh, I just can't, can't find my, my usual brand. It's in a, a blue box like, like these but there's uh, Chamomile in it. I hope they didn't replace it." That last part was mostly muttered to yourself, but based on the way the monsters ears flicked when you said it you had a distinct feeling he'd heard it anyway.

"That would be quite a shame. If I didn't make most of my own tea I would be distraught if they stopped stocking my favorite brand. I don't know how I would manage to relax without it." You noticed the monster lingered on a slightly different box labeled Chamomile, but continued searching without saying anything about it. If he was that interested in tea he probably understood how each brand tasted a little different. Either that or he thought you were crazy for wanting to stick to one brand but was just trying to be polite about it.

"You make your own tea?" As soon as you said it, you could picture him, in all his eight foot tall glory, huddled over a tiny bowl as he carefully tore leaves with his gigantic paws. You couldn't begin to imagine how he held something that small, let alone did…. whatever was involved in actually making tea. You assumed they probably tore the leaves though, to let the juices or whatever out, and that seemed impossible with such large furry paws.

The monster hadn't stopped looking at the teas, but he seemed a bit nervous when he continued to speak. "I make my own Golden Flower tea. It was quite popular underground for a while, perhaps I should sell some in my flower shop once it opens. Would you enjoy coming over to try it some time?"

Part of you knew that you really needed more people to talk to, that you couldn't continue to keep spending all your time baking and hiding away from conversation, but the overwhelmed and exhausted side of you vehemently disagreed. You were content as you were, isolated and calm, and most notably not constantly mocked over everything you did. It wasn't the most exciting life, but it was calm.

You remembered how it felt to talk to Muffet though, mostly unrestrained, baking and actually almost having fun for once. Not having to worried about being mocked, or having a joke fly over your head. You thought that maybe having a little more of that might not be too bad.

"I'm uh, I'm busy this, this week but uh, maybe next, next Sunday? I'll have to uh, have to see if I'm uh, available then. What's the uh, store called?" That was probably the first time you'd made actual plans with someone in months, and it was right after a meltdown. Honestly you were kind of proud of yourself.

"Next Sunday would be perfect. The store is called Asgore's flowers, but it hasn't been finished yet so I'll give you the address too." The monster, Asgore? pulled a wallet out of his pocket and carefully tugged out a small business card, if you could even call it that. The cards weren't printed, or even on card stock. It looked like a child had drawn a bunch of flowers on a piece of paper and then cut into mostly rectangle shaped pieces. At least the handwriting seemed to be Asgore's own, neat and elegant in a way that oddly suited the monster despite the khakis. The place didn't seem to be too far either, a little deeper in the business district then your own shop was, but it would only take a few minutes to drive there. "I know I am… not the best at naming things, but at least it won't be hard to remember which one you're looking for!"

"I take it you're Asgore then? Nice to meet you, I'm Alanna." You smile softly as the monster begins to stumble over his words, face managing to turn a light mix of… orange and blue? across his cheeks despite the thick fur covering them. That was kind of cute, in an odd sort of way.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, I suppose I'm just not used to having to introduce myself anymore. I'm Asgore Dreemurr, it's a pleasure to meet you Alanna." The large monster smiled at you, the very tips of two blunt fangs peaking out adorably, and knelt down to shake your hand. His paw absolutely dwarfed your own, but his arm was mostly even with yours know that he was on one knee. "Unfortunately, I do have to leave. I suppose I will see you next Sunday then. My number is on the card, so feel free to call or text me if you need any more details.

With that he turned and grabbed his own box of tea off the shelf, as well as one single blue box of Chamomile tea too high for you to reach that he set gently in you basket, before he slowly walked away. Although how anyone with legs that big could get anywhere slowly was a mystery to you.

"Next Sunday it is then." you mumbled to yourself, before putting the date in your phone. You were still studiously ignoring Papyrus's messages, but you knew you couldn't continue ignoring them for much longer.

As it turned out, not much longer happened to end right when you finished putting away groceries. It was too early to make dinner, and without anything to distract you, your mind went straight back to the texts waiting for you. You knew you weren't going to be able to relax until you read through them, so you might as well bite the bullet. At least it'd give you the rest of the night to get over his anger.

Mind made up, you opened your phone at hit Papyrus's name, cringing as a whole string of messages opened.

 

9:43 A.M.

P: 'that's not what I meant'

P: 'well okay, i did laugh a little'

 

At least it didn't start off too bad you noted, although seeing him admit that he'd been laughing at you stung pretty harshly.

 

9:44 A.M.

P: 'i shouldn't have laughed at you over a couple of puns.'

10:48 A.M.

P: 'i guess that's what i get for stealin jokes from my bro'

11:02 A.M.

P: 'he's the coolest, but he always goes for the easiest puns.'

 

You almost would have accepted his apology and let you two be mostly neutral acquaintances if he hadn't immediately brushed the blame off his shoulders. Not to mention he clearly wasn't taking this seriously if he couldn't even be bothered to use basic capitalization.

 

12:37 P.M.

P: 'is it okay if i ask how the interview went again?'

1:05 P.M.

P: 'guess not'

 

You could feel your anger and hurt bubbling up again at how easily he seemed to dismiss you as nothing but a way to get info on his friend. Actually, now that you thought about it, Muffet had never said that Papyrus was actually her friend, just that he was her best customer. Oh dear god, please don't let him be a crazy stalker who's convinced he's in love with Muffet, you had no clue how to handle that.

 

2:49 P.M.

P: 'kay, i got all my thoughts together now.'

P: 'sorry about teasing you over a bunch of dumb jokes'

P: 'it was real immature of me, specially when i knew you were already upset.'

2:50 P.M.

P: 'plus it's not your fault you don't get puns.'

P: 'just means i gotta up my game a little.'

P: 'any good comedian can read an audience after all.'

 

Again with the apparent apology immediately followed up by dismissal. Did he just expect you to start talking to him regularly now so he could try and 'solve' your joke problem?

Two days ago you would've said that Papyrus was an awkward guy who cared a lot about his friends, but this was ticking you off. Not only was there no regard for you, but he openly admitted that he was laughing at you just because you didn't catch a few jokes, and was quite possibly stalking one of your new employee's. Without a second thought, you deleted the entire conversation from your phone, but kept the contact just in case he decided to contact you again or harass Muffet.

You weren't going to take any chances with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've posted the re-write of chapter 1 now as well! Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to run out of pre-written chapters long before I finish re-writing. If It's any consolation, the new chapter 1 is nearly triple it's previous size! I'll try to stick to at least two chapters a week until I get everything re-written, although considering I don't have my computer set up at home yet I can't swear how successful I'll be.
> 
> In other news, I have a pillowfort account now! It's mostly full of me just talking into the void right now, but I intend to post writings, art, and regular updates on my crafts and (hopefully) soon to be garden! [That can be found here!](https://www.pillowfort.io/EmberAutumns)


	8. Meeting in Person is Sometimes Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your new employees are in for their first day on the job, and Muffet's number one customer makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I've almost reached 1,000 hits, I wanted to offer a free one shot to the first person who left a comment on this chapter! (Since, according to the usual trends, this will be the one to break it.) Since AO3 doesn't have a PM system, I figured we'd probably discuss the details over discord. Mine is Andania#2173 if you'd like to PM me first, if not just leave your Discord tag in your comment!

After the disaster that was Papyrus's texts, the rest of the weekend came and went without any social contact what so ever. It was absolutely blissful laying around with no responsibilities other then to remember to eat every once in awhile, and you managed to catch up on that show that you'd been recording episodes of but hadn't actually watched yet. By the time Monday had rolled around you felt like an entirely new person, and you were actually excited to get to introduce two new employee's to the wonder that was your bakery.

You'd told both Felix and Muffet to show up around five, but you had the doors unlocked and were beginning to prep by four thirty. Most of it was mindless work like wiping of counters and counting how much stock you still had in the back, but you wanted to have most of it done early in case the normal baking prep took longer than normal. You'd have more than enough to show them this morning anyway, without trying to cram in easy upkeep tasks you show them after closing.

You were both surprised and not when Muffet showed up ten minutes early with coffee, looking just as awake as she was in the middle of the day.  You were used to the early wake up times of course, and went to bed early to compensate, but you doubted you looked half as awake and elegant as Muffet did.

"Good morning dearie~! I didn't expect you to be so lively this early in the morning, especially without coffee. You always seem so tired when I see you." You watched as Muffet glanced around, absently noting the scent of cinnamon from her own coffee, and the pale blue dress she was wearing. So far you'd only seen her in pinks and purples so far, but the blues looked really nice on her, and matched the cafe. It was too bad she'd be in the back all day, Felix just didn't match the theme as well as she did. "What are we starting with today dearie?"

"Well the uh, the tables are already, already clean, so I guess we should, should start baking for, for the morning rush. When Felix uhm, arrives I can uh, show him how to, to work the register. I figure you can, can handle the kitchen ah, mostly on your, your own after uhm, Saturday."

"Of course Dearie, it isn't exactly hard to follow a recipe." You chuckled slightly at Muffet's jokingly derisive tone, but you noted that she'd made sure that even if you hadn't picked up on the tone or the joke you'd still know that she'd be alright on her own. You were really starting to appreciate Muffet. You hadn't even told her you had problems with sarcasm, how did she know?

"You, you'd be surprised how, how many people uhm, struggle with it. They, they all want to, to prove they can uh, do it better." It was like no one understood the point of having a consistent menu. You couldn't just replace the recipes every time someone new started working there! You were fine with people tweaking it a little, adding a little extra cinnamon or something, but no one ever seemed to be happy with that. "We should uh, probably start off with, with donuts and uhm, cinnamon rolls. I usually sell out of those quickly so, so we need to keep pretty, pretty far ahead on, on those."

The two of you worked quietly on those until Felix rushed in five minutes late, and panting as he clutched his own coffee desperately. 

Felix's fur stuck out every which way like a startled cat, and his shirt was on backwards and inside out. You could see his hands shaking, almost crushing the coffee cup he was holding. "Please don't fire me! I swear I'll never be late again boss, I just hit snooze to many times on my alarm, and then my coffee got spilled so I had to order another and wait for them to make it, and I wasn't awake enough to car. Not that I don't care! I care a lot, please don't fire me I really don't want to have to find another job and-"

"Felix it's, it's alright. I know it's early, and I don't, don't uh, mind you being a, a little late. I only asked you to uh, come so, so early to, to go over some uh, stuff first. Technically you'll start at, uh, at six forty five on uh, normal days." Felix visibly deflated, almost collapsing onto one of the nearby tables. If you didn't know that monster fur both didn't shed and didn't trigger any allergies, you might have been a little worried. You thought you could hear a half mumbled "best boss ever" but you decided to ignore it.

After that, training went well enough. Felix understood the basics of how to use a cash register already, it was just a matter of getting him used to the newer model, and then came the exciting part. Actually teaching him how to bake.

"The gloves are, are to make uh, to make sure you, you don't spread uh, germs and stuff to, to the food Felix. If, if you don't, don't wear them it, it's a uhm, a health code violation." You watched, slightly amused, as Felix bristled at the strange cat-monster gloves you'd managed to find for him.

"You and Muffet aren't wearing gloves though, why do I have to?"

"It's, it's a dumb uh, human law really. You, you have fur so, so the gloves are, are for extra uhm, protection? So germs and uh, hair don't, don't get in the food." You honestly did feel bad for him, even if it was hard to hide your chuckling at the stupid looking gloves. "It's probably uh, more comfortable then, then getting dough uh, stuck in, in your fur anyway."

Felix sighed, staring angrily down at the gloves before pulling them on. At least it had distracted both of them from the hair net issue. Apparently, because monster hair didn't shed like human hair did, Felix didn't have to wear a hairnet, but because Muffet had long hair she was still required to. That had been a disaster and a half.

Still, once everyone was washed up and actually ready to start, teaching Felix to bake was incredibly fun for everyone involved. It should have been obvious, but watching Felix knead dough for the first time was probably the highlight of your month. Felix didn't understand what was so funny about it of course, but he seemed to love it anyway. You had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be too hard to get him in the back to help.

Once the work day officially started, there were a few bumps, but nothing big enough to cause more then momentary stress. Apparently Felix struggled a little with human money for one thing. He was fine with the dollars since they were labeled, but he got a little mixed up on the coins. That was easy enough to solve with a few cut up pieces of sticky note in the drawer, and though he was a little slow getting the change sometimes most people were understanding enough to let it go.

There were more then a few humans that came in purely to gawk at the "Monster Employee's" but Muffet was surprisingly adept at handling that. Well, maybe not that surprisingly, it didn't seem like any of the monsters were shocked when she stepped up. All the picture taking pretty much stopped after that, although there were still quite a few kids that asked Felix if they could pet them. He was surprisingly indulgent, even after you made it clear that he could say no to them. Apparently more then a few of the fur-less monster kids underground had asked him the same thing.

It wasn't until it was almost lunch time that things really went downhill.

"hey, is the human here? i think her names alanna. She hasn't been returnin' my texts and i want to talk to her." You had barely heard the voice when you froze, immediately placing the slow, quiet voice of Papyrus. Anger swept through you at the thought of him in your store, but really what could you say at this point? He was Muffet's number one customer underground and she clearly had a soft spot for him even if she tried to hide it. You doubted that a completely baseless accusation of possible stalking would be taken well, even if she understood why you were bothered by the joke fiasco. Muffet was incredibly understanding, but you doubted she would see past the 'social awkwardness' of his behavior. Besides, you really didn't want to ruin their friendship if you turned out to be wrong. That didn't change the fact that you didn't want to talk to him or have him in your business though.

You supposed in the end, you were just going to have to tolerate him. That didn't mean you were going to hide your feelings on the matter though.

"Papyrus correct? I remember your voice." You could see Felix's jaw drop as you strode through the door, for once speaking without stuttering, before you noticed Papyrus. He was apparently a skeleton monster, nearly six feet tall with a heavy slouch, a cigarette between his teeth and eye sockets wide. Good. "You'll have to finish that up outside." You pointed to the cigarette in question, almost grinning as it nearly fell straight out of his mouth. "No smoking allowed inside, it could make the humans sick and it covers up the baking smell. It's bad for business." You smirked as the skeleton took the cigarette out of his mouth, visibly stunned, and stepped back.

"guess i'll just uh, finish this outside then. i'll be back in a minute."You watched as he turned and trudged out the door, manic glee fluttering in your stomach.

"I don't think I've ever managed to get him to put that thing out dearie, that's quite impressive ahuhuhu." You turned to see Muffet standing behind you, amused as she watched Papyrus leave. "Try not to scare him off though dearie, he is my best customer."

"I don't like him." You stated flatly, only to be met by twin stares of shock from your two employees. "Only reason I haven't, haven't kicked him out is because I, I know he's your friend. I'm, I'm trying not to, to judge him too fast but he just, he just rubbed me the wrong way." You sent a light glare at the door, almost wishing Papyrus could feel it. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Both monsters were silent for a moment, but as the second ticked by and you didn't elaborate, Muffet sighed and nodded. "Alright dearie, but you should try and talk it out with him. Papyrus can be a bit rude, but he means well."

"I, I'll try but I, I can't promise anything. I, I won't ban, ban him just because I uh, I don't like, uh, him though." That was true at least. You didn't have any proof for your suspicions about Papyrus, and there was always the chance that you could be jumping to conclusions. Muffet smiled and opened the door back into the kitchen.

"Papyrus will be back in a minute dearie, I'll handle the kitchen while you two talk." The door swung closed before you could protest and you were left standing alone with Felix, who was clearly trying not to look like he was overhearing everything that had been said. You kind of felt bad for him, being dragged into so much drama on his first day.

Not-so-subtly, you grabbed a danish from under the counter and one of the paper plates up on the counter, and pointed out into the seated section. "When, when he, he get's back uh, tell him he uh, he needs to, to buy something, and then uh, tell him to, to meet me at the uh, the bad luck table." Felix instantly brightened up at the dumb name he'd overheard you using out loud earlier when you accidentally stubbed your toe on said table. Unfortunately, that meant you probably couldn't get rid of the dumb thing now. "I have uh, honey bottles under the uh, the counter just, just for him. Muffet warned me." You knew said container was labeled with the price you and Muffet had decided on, so you left Felix to fend for himself and sat down. You needed all the time you could get to think anyway.


End file.
